Creating an Instructional Playbook for the Inclusive Classroom

Purpose & objective

Purpose:
The primary purpose of this session is to empower educators to develop an actionable instructional playbook that integrates high-leverage practices with educational technology to create inclusive classrooms.

Participant Outcomes:
-Understand the core high-leverage practices conducive to inclusive education.
-Gain hands-on experience in integrating these practices with educational technology tools.
-Collaboratively develop a section of an instructional playbook aimed at meeting the diverse needs of students.
-Evaluate the efficacy of selected high-leverage practices and technology integration through a collaborative review process.

Educators are currently grappling with the need for equitable and inclusive teaching strategies. We will utilize Google Workspace for Education for real-time collaboration.

Models Employed:
-Universal Design for Learning (UDL) - a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.
-Collaborative Teaching Model - highlights the roles and responsibilities for general and special education teachers in an inclusive classroom.

Previous iterations of this workshop have yielded playbooks that educators have successfully implemented in diverse classroom settings, leading to improved student engagement and learning outcomes.

Outline

Introduction (5 minutes)
Content: Explanation of an instructional playbook and why it is essential for the modern, inclusive classroom.
Process: Quick poll to gauge audience familiarity with instructional playbooks, followed by a brief presentation.

High-Leverage Practices Overview (10 minutes)
Content: Presentation on core high-leverage practices and their relevance to inclusive education.
Process: Short lecture with interspersed questions to maintain audience engagement.

Educational Technology for Inclusion (10 minutes)
Content: Discussion of educational technology tools that can aid in implementing high-leverage practices.
Process: Show and tell; audience members can share their favorite ed-tech tools supporting high-leverage practices in the inclusive classroom.

Collaborative Breakout Session (20 minutes)
Content: Hands-on activity where participants collaboratively draft sections of an instructional playbook.
Process: Breakout groups with guided tasks; each group focuses on integrating a specific high-leverage practice with a chosen ed-tech tool.

Peer Review and Feedback (10 minutes)
Content: Review of drafted playbook sections.
Process: Peer-to-peer interaction where each group presents their section and receives constructive feedback.

Concluding Remarks and Q&A (5 minutes)
Content: Summary of the session and lessons learned.
Process: Open the floor for questions and final thoughts.

Supporting research

Books:

Highleverage practices for Inclusive Classrooms. (2022). published by the Council for Exceptional Children

Knight, J., Hoffman, A., Harris, M., & Thomas, S. (2020). The instructional Playbook: The missing link for translating research into practice. One Fine Bird Press.